(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling traffic. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of setting a traffic control policy in which a time condition is added as a condition that controls traffic and of determining and executing an execution time point of a preset time-based policy.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Traffic generally indicates a load that is applied to a communication apparatus or a system, and in a network, traffic indicates a quantity of data that are exchanged through the network. In order to provide a smooth network service or to apply a reasonable accounting model, a service provider monitors and controls a traffic situation. In this case, a policy is set to operate a network, and when transmission of data is requested from the outside of a server through the network, a service provider controls traffic according to the set policy.
Such traffic includes a packet in which information such as a 5-tuple (source IP address, destination IP address, source port, destination port, and protocol) and a 7-tuple (source IP address, destination IP address, source port, destination port, protocol, input port number, and signature) is stored, and a general policy is set based on information such as a 7-tuple that is included in a packet of traffic. A policy that is set at a policy server is executed in a policy execution point (PEP) and controls traffic.
Conventionally, because the above policy was set using only information that is included in a packet within traffic, a condition combination for setting a policy was limited to the information, and thus there was a limitation in controlling traffic with various methods.